Englewood, Colorado — Bo Nix will have plenty of locker room support for his new role as Denver Broncos team captain.
“He’s answered the bell with everything we’ve asked of him and what the coaching staff has asked of him,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey stated.
“And Bo’s a really impressive kid, and he’s done a great job coming in here and commanding this locker room and commanding our huddle.”
So much so that McGlinchey had no doubt that the No. 12 overall pick deserved the distention.
“He had no doubts. McGlinchey stated, “It was pretty straightforward, especially with him taking over our team and playing quarterback.” “Bo’s a dynamite kid, and that was a no-brainer.”
McGlinchey was not the only Bronco to feel this way.
“I think he deserves it,” said linebacker Alex Singleton, who was also named captain last week. “The way he’s taken command of the offence, just the steps he’s taken, I think he’s a great captain.”
“I am excited. It’s beneficial for him.
In naming Bo Nix as a captain, the Broncos followed a recent league trend.
Bo Nix will become the tenth quarterback since 2020 to start his team’s regular-season opener. Nine of the ten clubs with rookies in their starting lineups in Week 1 named captains for the whole season. Eight of these involved the quarterback. Only the 2021 New England Patriots, who started first-round pick Mac Jones, declined to appoint their rookie quarterback as team captain.
Given that no team chose a Week 1 rookie starting quarterback as a team captain between 2007 — when NFL teams first affixed “C” patches for captains on a league-wide basis — and 2019, this is a relatively new phenomena.
Cincinnati was the first to break the pattern in 2020, with Joe Burrow. It is now standard practice to assign leadership to a rookie quarterback who starts Week 1.
If Washington opted to name season-long captains rather than game-by-game captains, Jayden Daniels is likely to join Nix and Chicago’s Caleb Williams as formally designated team leaders from the start of the season. Last year, all three Week 1 rookie starting quarterbacks — Carolina’s Bryce Young, Houston’s C.J. Stroud, and Indianapolis’ Anthony Richardson – served as captains.
You don’t see this in other jobs. However, quarterbacks differ not only from other football positions, but also from those in other sports. And this was more important than ever in the voting process that resulted to his selection.
“The maturity, the confidence, and certainly the position that he plays,” McGlinchey told reporters. “Quarterback is the team’s leader, whether you like it or not.
“And certainly he fits the mould in every aspect, which is why he was voted a captain, right?”
Nix has been marking off boxes for several months. All that remains for him to do is justify the franchise’s, coaches’, and teammates’ faith in him, despite the fact that he has no professional experience.
“I think it’s a credit to him,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said, “and I think his teammates felt he belonged in that position.”
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